Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Books on Peranakan Culture and Heritage

This is a selection of titles from our comprehensive stock of books on Peranakan culture and heritage:

Nyonya Kebaya: Intricacies of the Peranakan Heritage by Christine Ong Kiat Neo. This book is a comprehensive guide to Nyonya Kebaya dressing and fashion. With a large number of beautiful colour photographs of alluring kebayas, this book will be an essential guide on how to wear and match lovely kebaya outfits. There is a section offering a brief history of nyonya kebaya, batik sarong and kebaya embroidery, followed by detailed tips and ideas on how to wear and match keyayas, how to create ensembles and how to care for kebayas.

Modern Nyonya by Sylvia Tan. The veteran cookery writer Sylvia Tan here brings together 70 of her favourite nonya recipes in this delightfully illustrated volume. The first chapter notes significant features in Peranakan food history and its styles including how to create the essential and distinctive rempah or spice pastes. Seventy recipes are clearly set out. With illustrated glossary, index and measurement tables.

Kebaya Tales: Of Matriarchs, Maidens, Mistresses and Matchmakers by Lee Su Kim. These 13 short stories are set in the world of nonyas, the women of the distinctive Straits Chinese or Peranakan community of Malaysia and Singapore. After a short introduction on Peranakan identity, the lively stories highlight many aspects of the history, lifestyles and issues which face or faced nonyas. With archival photographs, and colour photographs of kebayas and other nonya artefacts.

Straits Chinese Silver: A Collector's Guide by Ho Wing Meng. This beautifully illustrated volume examines the exquisite silver of the Straits Chinese, or Peranakans - Hindu-Islamic in shape and function but strangely characteristic of the Chinese in emblem and decorative design. Detailed information regarding the usage of the various articles as well as historic photographs and drawings vividly portray the now-lost world of the Straits Chinese. Notes, glossary and bibliography included.A Peranakan Legacy: The Heritage of the Straits Chinese by Peter Wee, Peter. Exquisite pieces, embroidered clothing, stunning gold and silver jewellery, pretty porcelain artefacts and unusual items of daily living chronicle the rich heritage of the Peranakans or Straits Chinese - a people whose unique culture is an amalgamation of Eastern and Western influences: Chinese, Malay, Indian, Indonesian, Portuguese, Dutch and British. This book captures through lavish, full-colour photographs the Peranakan's strong sense of customs and etiquette and introduces readers to their way of life.